Legal Question in Tax Law in California

Re: Tax Amnesty

The preparation of your tax return is your responsibility, not that of the IRS or State of California. If you do not file a return, they do one for you based upon W-2's, 1099's, etc that they receive.

I would suggest that you contact them and discuss the matter.

Re: Tax Amnesty

Chances are, the letter you got from the state was not a bill, just a letter suggesting you participate in the amnesty program, together with some guess at what your current balance due might be if you owed taxes in 1983 and let penalties & interest build up for 20 years.

You can ask the FTB to explain their calculation of the amount(s) owed.

Also, if the letter you received is similar to letters I've seen for other CA taxpayers, it will indicate whether or not they believe a return was filed for 1983. It is possible that they never received your 1983 return due to some problem with the mail, and have just speculated about what your income and expenses were likely to be. On the other hand, perhaps they did receive a return and believe that you still owe a balance on that return.

There is no statute of limitations for collecting taxes where a tax return is not filed.

I agree that it's unreasonable for CA to go after people for tax matters that are 20+ years old - but that doesn't mean they can't do it, or that you can ignore them safely, especially if you've got income or assets in CA that are easily subject to seizure.